2-episode prequel to upcoming film debuts on January 15, 20
The online dTV service began streaming a trailer on Thursday for Gintama The Semi-Final, the new net anime special in the Gintama franchise. The video previews SPYAIR‘s “Wadachi” (Tracks), theme song the upcoming Gintama: The Final anime film, and it also reveals that the special’s opening song will be SPYAIR‘s song “I Wanna Be…” (The same song was the opening for the 2018 season of the Gintama television anime.)
The special will have two episodes, and will be a prequel to the Gintama: The Final anime film. The special will debut exclusively on dTV with the first episode on January 15. The second episode will debut on January 20.
Gintama: The Final will open in Japan on January 8. The film will be based on the finale of the original manga, combined with new story elements.
Sorachi’s original “science-fiction period-drama comedy” manga began in 2003 and ended in June 2019 with over 55 million copies in circulation. The latest anime series premiered in July 2018. The manga has also inspired various original video anime (OVA), event anime, two live-action films, and two live-action net spinoffs. Viz Media published the manga’s first 23 volumes in English.
The first 49 episodes of the first television series began streaming on Hulu with a new English dub in December. Sentai Filmworks released the anime’s first 49 episodes on DVD in 2010 and 2011, but that release did not include an English dub.
Sources: dTV‘s YouTube channel, Comic Natalie